I looked at a few...lol...it would take all the $$ from this job and then some to get a nice one. Even looked at a 3 pt one for the tractor. He could lease one for a week and we could do that for him...
Thanks, my friend. Hope to be back there next week. Come on down, supposed to be cooler temps and we have a few tricky ones to drop...
After a 2 1/2 week delay (work schedule and weather), we finally made it back to logging site. We got up a big top, 2 trees that we had dropped before and then cut 2 smaller oaks. Got a big load, had to use pry bar to help start it dumping. Hope to go back Thursday. Can't haul that size load then. Had to order a consumable part for the Andersen hitch, anti-sway sleeve that goes in the hitch. We will have the regular hitch on the truck.
After night shift and equipment repairs Tuesday, we made it back to the site Wednesday morning. Decided to take down some more oaks for our woodyard. Another oak we took down... We also dropped a water oak too. Got a nice trailer load That evening, we dropped 4 pines This one was a leaner, only time I've ever had the saw get pinched in a bore cut. Went ol' skool and used the axe, some good whacks and it finally popped loose For some reason, the saws sound seems to attract the cicadas. I've had several land on me while I was cutting...
Thursday was another good day on the site. We had several sweet gums to take down, each one had at least 2 - 10" or bigger logs for the mill. Got a nice load of saw logs, net weight, 8640#... When I was talking to the timber buyer, I mentioned we had some smaller pine and gum that we would probably have to put on the burn pile. He said to take it to the chip mill down the road from the saw mill, he could get us in there also. They agreed to take 12' lengths, so we loaded up the pine we cut Wed and dropped another by the pool. This was some of the tightest grain pine I've seen in awhile. Too bad they weren't big enough to mill some boards... This load net weight was 9700#. Since we still had time and I hate to pull an empty trailer home, we dropped 2 more red oaks and 2 water oaks. We just used the tractor as a precaution, the wedge was all that was needed... This big girl was using this oak and the pump house as anchor points for her web. Banana spider The 2 water oaks were a bit more tricky. Bad leaners towards the house, didn't have much room to maneuver the tractor on the 2nd one, fence right behind the tractor And it started raining about the time that tree went down, but we got 2 logs bucked off the biggest water oak to finish the load. Left the site about 8:45PM. Got home safe.
Yes sir, it is. We might can get a few more on the stacks, probably have to find another dumping area.
We were blessed with an easy site. We have had a few that made us scratch our heads for a bit. This is the front yard, the beginning of this job... Our biggest logging job yet.
Nice job wedging that one over. I like using a steel wedge for felling. Maybe the cicadas thought you were cute and you were serenading them???
Yes sir. That tree had a bad lean towards the house. Had several wedges in it to help the cable pull as much as possible
After our anniversary trip the week of Labor Day and work week after that, we made it back to the site on the 19th. Decided to tackle one that had me troubled for awhile. It was big, had some lean towards the pump house, and a long way to the first limb. Since we had cut all the trees to the left of it, we decided to use notch and wedges to get it in the safe drop zone. With a prayer and patience, all went as planned... 28" bar on the MS461 We loaded the water oak logs from the last time we were there first, then some of the big logs from this tree. Had this load by lunchtime We came back that afternoon, took down 3 more nice oaks and 2 small ones. Load #2 for the day... We cleaned up the tops and hauled that load to an older friend that needed some wood, loaded 4 pallets of bricks on our pastor's trailer and hauled it to his house and started cleaning up some older tops/limbs in the back yard Tuesday. Sorry, noof all that. Getting ready to burn the 4 limb piles Saturday morning and then drop the trees around the pool next week.
With the approaching storm, Ian, possibly coming thru our area soon, we went over Monday morning and dropped the 11 trees in the pool area. 7 red oaks, 4 sweet gums. Most had some lean towards the pool and house. Several just used a wedge to turn them. Had the tractor as a backup plan. Then we had a couple sketchy ones left. We used the pulley and cable on that long leaner over the pool This one was leaning towards the pool area too. Notched and did a partial back cut on it. Then used the tractor to nudge it towards the dirt pile. Made an ugly stump, but made it go in the right direction. All on the ground by lunchtime. Giving GOD all the praise for HIS protection on the property and safety for us. I'm happy to report that all the trees around the house are now down safely. We have 1 more with a hanging limb to drop in the backyard and 12 along the driveway. Almost done.
